Hand-held multiple-die embossing tool

ABSTRACT

A hand-held tool for embossing large indicia on an elongated strip of embossable material. The tool has embossing means comprising male and female embossing dies, with the dies being arranged in concentric circular arrays and adapted to move perpendicular to the direction of travel of the embossable material in order to make both sets of dies available for embossing, and a tape guide interposed between the male and female dies having an aperture narrower than said dies so that when said dies are in the closed embossing position the dies and the tape guide are pressed firmly together and cooperate to grip the edges of the strip during embossing.

Faust et al.

1 HAND-HELD MULTIPLE-DIE EMBOSSING TOOL [75] Inventors: Michael C.Faust; Thomas W.

Seabold, both of St. Paul, Minn.

[73] Assignee: Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, St. Paul,

Minn.

[22] Filed: Oct. 12, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 406,111

. [52] US. Cl. 197/6.7, 101/29 [51] Int. Cl B4lj 1/30 [58] Field ofSearch 197/62, 6.6, 6.7; 101/18,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,263,790 8/1966 Bremer eta1. l97/6.7 3,263,791 8/1966 Pedersen et al. 197/67 3,280,954 10/1966Bremer et a1. 197/6.7 3,389,772 6/1968 Sjogren et al 197/67 3,414,10212/1968 Norvelle 197/67 1111 3,865,224 1451 Feb. 11, 1975 11/1970Woodard 83/633 X 12/1972 Corte l97/6.7

[57] ABSTRACT A hand-held tool for embossing large indicia on anelongated strip of embossable material. The tool has embossing meanscomprising male and female embossing dies, with the dies being arrangedin concentric circular arrays and adapted to move perpendicular to thedirection of travel of the embossable material in order to make bothsets of dies available for embossing, and a tape guide interposedbetween the male and female dies having an aperture narrower than saiddies so that when said dies are in the closed embossing position thedies and the tape guide are pressed firmly together and cooperate togrip the edges of the strip during embossing.

3 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures 1 HAND-HELD MULTIPLE-DIE EMBOSSING TOOLBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This inventionrelates to embossing tools for embossing elongated strips. In oneaspect, this invention relates to hand-held embossing tools useful forembossing wide, elongated, embossable strips.

2. Description of the Prior Art U.S. Pat. No. 3,280,954, issued toBremmer et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 3,263,791, issued to Pedersen et al.,disclose embossing tools having two or more sets of embossing dies atvarying radii on an embossing dial which can be moved parallel to thedirection of motion of the embossable material to allow selection of thedesired dies. These tools utilized resilient members movable to engagethe strip material and force it into the female dies formed on themovable dial. Sufficient pressure was available with the tablemodel toafford adequate embossing pressure to form /2 inch characters on inchembossing tape. For a hand held tool it is very difficult to obtainsufficient pressure to form one half inch characters without the use ofmating dies on each side of the embossable material forming male andfemale dies as is described in copending application Ser. No. 406,l 1Ofiled Oct. 12, I973, inthe name of Curt A. Poulton and assigned to thesame assignee as this application. The problem encountered however withlarge pairs of die elements on a shiftable dial was that the diesoccassionally caught on the embossing material during shifting of thedial and in that the male die memher when placed through a guide duringan embossing operation would catch and not separate from the stripmaterial to permit the subsequent advance of the 'material when theembossing lever was released.

Another problem with embossing tools for wide strips is the strip willtend to deform during embossing causing the edges of the strip to warporwrinkle damaging the appearance of the finished product.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The hand-held embossing tool of the presentinvention for embossing wide embossable strips on the order of one-halfto three-fourth inch or more comprises an elongated body and meansguiding and supporting an elongated strip of embossable material along apath, feed means for advancing strip material to an embossing station inresponse to actuating means and means to apply pressure to the embossingdies. The tool has embossing disks including an embossing dial mountedon the body having female embossing die elements and opposed maleembossing dies with each male die being individually mounted on aflexible finger, said male dies having shoulders adjacent the dies andsaid die sets being arranged in concentric circular arrays. The dial isadapted to move perpendicular to the direction of travel of theelongated strip so that the desired array of embossing dies maybecentered over the strip. A guide plate for carrying the elongatedstripis interposed between the male and female dies prevents the strip frombecoming entangled in the individual male dies. The tape guide has anaperture at the embossing station nar-. rower than the strips width butsufficiently wide to allow the male die to pass through so when the diesare in the embossing position the shoulder portion of the male die, theguide plate and the female die will be pressed firmly together securelyholding the edges of the strip to prevent warping or wrinkling of theedges of the strip during embossing.

The embossing tape moves tangential to the embossing dial rather thanthrough the center of the dial as in the prior art. Thus the characterson the embossing dial are rotated from the normal orientation where thetape passes through the center of the dial which brings the height ofthe characters in to a radial alignment. Because the width' of mostcharacters is less than their height, more characters can be spaced on agiven circumference allowing the embossing dial to be smaller than acomparable dial where the strip passes through the center of the dialfor any given size of letter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING A further understanding of theinvention may be had by reference to the following drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embossing tool constructed inaccordance with this invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the embossing tool with parts broken away toshow interior members;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the tool of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG.2;

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along .the line 55 of FIG.2;

FIG. 6 is a horizontal sectional view taken along the line 6-6 of FIG.3;

FIG. 7 is a transverse sectional view taken along the line 7-7 of FIG.3;

FIG. 8 is a transverse sectional view taken along the line 8-8 of FIG.3;

FIG. 9 is a partial exploded perspective view showing a set of cut offdies; and

FIG. 10 is a cross sectional view showing the cut off dies in thecutting position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A hand-held embossing toolaccording to this invention and generally designated by the referencenumeral 20 includes a housing 22 adapted to hold a roll of embossabletape and having an embossing dial 24, with a plurality of complementarymale and female embossing dies, rotatably mounted in said housing. Theembossing dies are shown arranged in two concentric circular arrays. Toemboss a character, embossing dial 24 is moved until the proper letterappears in a selector window 26 and trigger 28 is depressed bringing theselected embossing dies together applying pressure to the embossablestrip. In addition, during embossing the feed means are actuated andwill advance the strip material after the embossing dies separate.

The spacing between embossed characters can be controlled by dial 30providing normal, condensed or expanded spacing allowing messages ofdifferent lengths and spacing to be formed by the same embossing tool.The embossable strip can be moved rapidly forward by means of knob 32without actuating trigger 28, and if a substantial length of unembossedstrip has been run out, the unembossed portion may be drawn back forembossing by opening atape hold down 34 and drawing the strip backwardsby hand. The message being embossed is visible in viewing window 36 andthe most recently embossed characters may be seen at viewing aperture 38by withdrawing embossing dial 24 to uncover aperture 38.

In greater detail, trigger 28 is pivotably mounted on pin 40 to moveinto the handle and is returned to its normal extended position byspring 42 after the trigger is closed to emboss a character on theelongated strip. As trigger 28 is depressed during the embossing steppin 44, which normally holds arm 46 in the lower position, is movedupward and spring 48 pulls arm 46 upward. As arm 46 moves upward gearsegment 50 attached to arm 46 engages and turns gear segment 52 securedto a drum rotatably mounted on shaft 51 until surface 54 engages acomplementary stop 55 which limits the rotation of gear 52. The gearsegment 52 is mounted on a drum which drives a tape drive roller 68through a conventional spring clutch including a spring 53 on the drumto drive the shaft 51 and the feed roller 68. Spring 53 allows gear 52to rotate without a similar rotation of shaft 51 during the triggersupward motion. As spring 42 forces embossing trigger 28 downward to thenormal extended position, pin 44 pushing against rod 46 causes gear 50to rotate counterclockwise turning shaft 51 and tape drive roller 68attached to the shaft thereby advancing the embossable strip. The amountof rotation of gear 52, and thus spacing between characters can becontrolled by turning knob 30 which moves complementary surface 55 andcontrols the distance gear 52 can rotate before surface 54 engagescomplementary'surface 55.

Trigger stop 56 will engage frame 58, providing a solid, bottomed out,feel which allows the user to know when trigger 28 has advanced farenough to clearly emboss a character on the embossable strip.

During operation tape from magazine 64 passes over roll 66 becomingvisible through aperture 65 and passes between pressure roll 70 anddrive roll 68 into a guide plate 71 where it is moved forward toembossing station 69. Pressure roller 70 is mounted in frame 72pivotably attached to frame 41 of embossing tool on shaft 73. When it isdesired to retract a portion of the embossable strip moving tape releasebutton 34 down and back toward the rear of the tool causing cam surface75 ofthe tape release button to push against the surface frame 72 movingthe frame upward and releasing the pressure on the embossable stripallowing it to be withdrawn through aperture 65 manually.

As is shown most clearly in FIG. 2, the guide plate 71 is formed of agenerally flat thin metal plate having a slotted aperture 76 formedtherein and defining the embossing station. The aperture 76 is narrowerthan the width of the embossing strip and equal to the height of thetallest indicia formed on a male die. Strip guiding edges 77 are formedon the guide plate 71 and extend away from the strip supporting surfaceto contact and severely guide the strip across the center of theaperture 76. The edges 77 are spaced along the guide plate in advance ofthe aperture 76.

FIG. 7 shows an arrangement of embossing dies and a plunger suitable forembossing indicia. As shown, an outer set of male dies 82 and an innerset of male dies 84 are radially mounted on thin flexible arms 83 inconcentric circular arrays and corresponding female dies are in a disk86 the entire assembly being keyed soas to rotate as a unit on stud 85.The male dies 82 and 84 are formed with a plunger to mate the female dieelement and shoulders 92 are formed at each end of the male plungerincreasing the height of the element. The

shoulders 92 permit the plunger to pass through the aperture 76 andengage the surface of the guide plate 71 opposite the strip. When thedies having the character to be embossed have been rotated to theembossing station, trigger 28 is depressed moving embossing plungerupward applying sufficient force to the male die 82 forcing it throughthe aperture 76, into the embossable strip and forcing the strip intothe female die to produce a neat, clean character.

FIG. 6 shows generally a system for mounting embossing dial 24 on theframe of tool 20 which allows the embossing dial to be quickly andeasily moved perpendicular to the direction of strip travel. When it isdesired to use characters contained on the inner circular array of dies,button 88 is depressed retracting detent 86 from depression 87 allowingembossing disks and their embossing dies, and the stud 85, to be movedradially and perpendicular to the strips path so the inner set of diesare centered over plunger 80.

During embossing, guide plate 71 is moved upward by shoulders 92 of theembossing male die so that in the closed embossing position under theforce of the plunger 80 the male die, guide plate, embossing strip andthe female die are pressed firmly together. The

shoulders 92 on the male dies engage the guide plate at .the edges ofthe aperture 76 raising the guide plate to press against the embossablestrip and the strip against under surface of the disk 86 to hold theedges of the embossable strip in position during embossing, therebypreventing deformation and warping.

A cut-off assembly suitable for mounting as part of embossing dial 24 isshown by FIGS. 9 and 10. Disk 86 has a recess 96 containing springportion 98 and two knife blades 100 separated by a spacer 102. When thecut-off assembly is rotated to embossing station 69 and trigger 28depressed plunger 80 will push anvil 97 mounted on arm 83 upward, theshoulders of anvil 97 pushing guide plate 71 upward against knives 100.A raised t-shaped portion 101 mounted on anvil 97 cooperates with guideplate 71 to exert sufficient pressure against knives 100 to sever thetape at its edges and across most of its width; however, the spaces 103,105 will leave small portions of the liner of the strip mate rialunsevered or only partially severed allowing several messages to beembossed without separating individual messages from each other. Thistype of cut on an embossed strip is described in greater detail in US.Pat. No. 3,537,343 the disclosure of which is incorporated herein byreference.

Having thus described the present invention with reference to oneembodiment of a machine constructed according to this invention, it willbe readily understood that changes may be made in the machine withoutdeparting from the spirit or scope of this invention as defined by theappended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A tool for embossing indicia in a wide elongated strip of embossablematerial, said too] including a body having embossing means at anembossing station, said embossing means comprising two sets ofcomplementary male and female dies said sets being arrangedin concentriccircular arrays, said female dies being formed on a rotatable disc, saidmale dies each comprising an element having a plunger with radiallyspaced ends, each plunger being positioned opposite and mating with anassociated female die and having shoulders disposed one adjacent eachend of said plunger, said elements being individually mounted onflexible fingers, said embossing means being mounted for movementperpendicular to the direction of travel of said elongated strip so thatany selected die of any concentric array of embossing dies may becentered over the elongated strip, feed means for advancing theelongated strip to the embossing station, and a guide plate for carryingsaid elongated strip between said male and female dies past saidembossing station, said guide plate having an aperture to receive saidplungers and narrower than the width of said element with said shouldersengaging the guide plate adjacent the edges of said aperture wherebywhen said dies are in the closed embossing position, the dies, guideplate and elongated strip are pressed firmly together securely holdingthe edges of the elongated strip.

2. The tool of claim 1 wherein said feed means includes means forvarying the space between centerlines of the embossed indicia to enablethe embossing of strips with extended or condensed letters, said meansfor varying the spacing comprising a spring loaded gear segment whichengages a complementary gear attached to said feed means saidcomplementary gear having a stop surface which will engage an adjustablecomplementary stop surface on said tool whereby when said embossing diesare closed to the embossing position, said gear segment will turn saidcomplementary gear a predetermined amount until said stop surfacesengage thereby determining the amount said feed means will advance saidstrip.

3. The tool of claim 1 having cut-off dies mounted on said embossingmeans, said cut-off dies comprising a male die member having a T-shapedanvil smaller than the aperture in said guide plate and a correspondingdie on said disc said corresponding die having two knife blades arrangedtransversely to the length of said strip whereby when said cut-off diesare in the closed position the knives are pressed against the tape guideand the anvil whereby the edges of the strip and a substantial portionof the center of said strip are transversely severed.

1. A tool for embossing indicia in a wide elongated strip of embossablematerial, said tool including a body having embossing means at anembossing station, said embossing means comprising two sets ofcomplementary male and female dies said sets being arranged inconcentric circular arrays, said female dies being formed on a rotatabledisc, said male dies each comprising an element having a plunger withradially spaced ends, each plunger being positioned opposite and matingwith an associated female die and having shoulders disposed one adjacenteach end of said plunger, said elements being individually mounted onflexible fingers, said embossing means being mounted for movementperpendicular to the direction of travel of said elongated strip so thatany selected die of any concentric array of embossing dies may becentered over the elongated strip, feed means for advancing theelongated strip to the embossing station, and a guide plate for carryingsaid elongated strip between said male and female dies past saidembossing station, said guide plate having an aperture to receive saidplungers and narrower than the width of said element with said shouldersengaging the guide plate adjacent the edges of said aperture wherebywhen said dies are in the closed embossing position, the dies, guideplate and elongated strip are pressed firmly together securely holdingthe edges of the elongated strip.
 2. The tool of claim 1 wherein saidfeed means includes means for varying the space between centerlines ofthe embossed indicia to enable the embossing of strips with extended orcondensed letters, said means for varying the spacing comprising aspring loaded gear segment which engages a Complementary gear attachedto said feed means said complementary gear having a stop surface whichwill engage an adjustable complementary stop surface on said toolwhereby when said embossing dies are closed to the embossing position,said gear segment will turn said complementary gear a predeterminedamount until said stop surfaces engage thereby determining the amountsaid feed means will advance said strip.
 3. The tool of claim 1 havingcut-off dies mounted on said embossing means, said cut-off diescomprising a male die member having a T-shaped anvil smaller than theaperture in said guide plate and a corresponding die on said disc saidcorresponding die having two knife blades arranged transversely to thelength of said strip whereby when said cut-off dies are in the closedposition the knives are pressed against the tape guide and the anvilwhereby the edges of the strip and a substantial portion of the centerof said strip are transversely severed.